BP Faces Fine and 4 Hot Stocks Turning Heads

Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) declares its intention to acquire privately held Cloupia, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based software company that automates converged data center infrastructure. Cisco will pay about $125 million in cash and incentives and take over all shares in Cloupia. According to Cisco, Cloupia’s infrastructure management software integrates well with Cisco’s “Unified Computing System (UCS)” and Nexus switching portfolio.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) inks a deal with KPN in Germany for the acquisition of over 2000 Tower sites for about €393 million. The deal provides a platform for the company’s launch of operations in Germany. The deal will likely close by Q4 of 2012.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) announces that Jeff Stratton, Global Chief Restaurant Officer, will take over from Jan Fields as president of McDonald’s USA. Fields is credited with many major business initiatives during her tenure of 35 years with the company. “We appreciate and salute Jan for more than three decades of inspired leadership and impactful service under the Arches,” said McDonald’s President and Chief Executive Officer Don Thompson.

According to a report in the BBC, BP (NYSE:BP) is likely to be fined a record $3 billion-$5 billion, a criminal penalty payable to settle criminal charges by the Department of Justice in connection with the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. The company would have to plead guilty to the charges, and is likely that some BP staff would be arrested.

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) reports third quarter EPS of -$1.01 and revenue of $326 million, which miss by $0.35 and $29 million respectively.